1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to couplers and, more particularly, to quick couplings for flexible tubes that may be used in seed planters.
2. Description of the Related Art
An agricultural seeder, such as a row crop planter, places the seed at a desired depth within a plurality of parallel seed trenches (or furrows) formed in soil. In the case of a row crop planter, a plurality of row crop units are typically ground driven using wheels, shafts, sprockets, transfer cases, chains and the like, or driven by a hydraulic or electric motor based on ground speed obtained from electronic sensors. Each row crop unit has a seed metering and distribution mechanism to properly meter seeds at a predetermined rate and to place the seeds at predetermined spaced locations and depth. The row crop unit is movably coupled with a tool bar and includes a mini hopper for seed. The row crop planter usually carries a main seed hopper or bulk fill tank which employs flexible tubes to distribute seed to the mini hoppers in each of the row crop units. The seeds are pneumatically driven along the tube between the bulk fill tank and the mini hoppers.
The operating environment for the row crop planter is such that the flexible tubes need to be quickly disconnected from both the bulk fill tank and especially the mini hoppers. Quick connect couplings are used for this purpose. It is common practice to utilize hose barbs on the quick coupling to positively retain the flexible tube in place. While it is an easy process to install the flexible tube in the coupling, it is problematic to remove the tube for various maintenance purposes. The reason is that the hose barbs do not permit removal of the flexible tube from the coupling without either heating and or splitting of the tube. This process requires the flexible tube to be shortened if the tube is to be reused in the coupling. After just a few occurrences of this operation, the length of the flexible tube may be shortened enough that it did becomes unusable.
What is needed in the art is a quick coupling that enables removal of the flexible tube from the quick coupling and be reused without damage to the tube.